by Will Croft Barnes
foreword by Bernard L. Fontana
University of Arizona Press, 1988
eISBN: 978-0-8165-3495-1 | Paper: 978-0-8165-1074-0
Library of Congress Classification F809.B27 1988
Dewey Decimal Classification 917.9100321

ABOUT THIS BOOK | REVIEWS | TOC
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Will Croft Barnes (1858–1937) first came to Arizona as a cavalryman and went on to become a rancher, state legislator, and conservationist. From 1905 to 1935, his travels throughout the state, largely on horseback, enabled him to gather the anecdotes and geographical information that came to constitute Arizona Place Names.

For this first toponymic encyclopedia of Arizona, Barnes compiled information from published histories, federal and state government documents, and reminiscences of "old timers, Indians, Mexicans, cowboys, sheep-herders, historians, any and everybody who had a story to tell as to the origin and meaning of Arizona names." The result is a book chock full of oddments, humor, and now-forgotten lore, which belongs on the night table as well as in the glove compartment.

Barnes' original Arizona Place Names has become a booklover's favorite and is much in demand. The University of Arizona Press is pleased to reissue this classic of Arizoniana, which remains as useful and timeless as it was more than half a century ago.